Mitchell Lake - Blue Lake

In my continuing exploration of the Indian Peaks Wilderness area, Mitchell Lake and Blue Lake were the next two that I wanted to hike. After circling the Mitchell Lake trailhead parking area for about 15 minutes I was able to find a parking spot. Starting from the Mitchell lake trailhead, 10,500ft, in the Brainard lake recreation area Mitchell Lake is a short hike at 0.9mi. When I arrived at Mitchell Lake, 10,741ft, I was able to see a moose off in the distance, partly hidden amongst some of the foliage. The trail by Mitchell Lake was a muddy bog and I didn’t want to stay long.

From Mitchell Lake the trail becomes noticably steeper and continues towards Blue lake. After hiking for about 10 minutes beyond I was able to look back and see more moose in the Mitchell Lake area. As an aside, the first time I saw a moose was last year, 2016, while driving up Fall River road in Rocky Mountain National Park. As I continued up, the trees became fewer and shorter and I entered into the alpine tundra, the view reminding me of hiking fourteeners. While hiking towards Blue lake, Mt. Toll looms like a sentinal on the horizon and surprisingly there were a lot of people on the trail. Just below Blue Lake, there was still some snow and a little cairn. After hiking for 1:16:27, I arrived at Blue Lake and it was beautiful. Blue Lake is a tarn nestled in a cirque of mountain peaks: Pawnee Peak, Mt. Toll, and Mount Audubon. I sat and enjoyed the beauty, the cool, clean mountain air, and the bright sunshine. I hope to hike Mount Audubon in 2018.

Details:

Mitchell lake Elevation: 10,741ft

GPS Coordinates: 40.086978 -105.594270

Blue Lake Elevation: 11,329ft

GPS Coordinates: 40.088647 -105.617508

Total hiking time: 2 Hours

Mitchell Lake Trail head Sign

Trail head Sign showing the distances to Mitchell and Blue Lake.

Indian Peaks Boundary Sign

Now entering the Indian Peaks Wilderness area.

Mitchell Lake

Mitchell Lake 10,700ft. Mount Audubon, 13,233ft in the background.

Looking back at Mitchell Lake

Looking back on Mitchell Lake. There are some moose back there.

Mount Toll

On the trail looking at Mount Toll, 12,979ft.

Snow and a cairn

Snow and a man-made cairn below Blue Lake

Alpine tundra trees

Small trees in the alpine tundra, east ridge of Pawnee Peak in the background

Alpine Tundra

The alpine tundra with the east ridge of Pawnee Peak in the background